Toy.



Patented lune l7, I902. W. P. LYLE.

TOY.

(Application filed Sept. 28, 1901.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

WVILLIAM P. LYLE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TOY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 702,861, dated June 17, 1902.

Application filed September 28, 1901. Serial No. 76,884. No model.)

receptacle to be held in the hand, so that by skilful manipulation of said receptacle the ball is caused to assume therein a certain position rendered difficult of attainment by various means.

The object of my invention is to provide a toy of this class in which the pellet is caught and held by a second movable element of the receptacle, which is so mounted in said receptacle that its own movement tends to interfere with the movement of the pellet into proper position to be trapped.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a View of my improved toy, showing the pellet in the trapped condition. Fig. 2 is a view illustrating the relation of the parts before starting to manipulate the toy in order to effect the trapping of the pellet, and Fig. 3 is a View illustrating a modified form of the toy.

The toy comprises a receptacle 1,preferably of cylindrical shape and with a closed bottom 2 and contracted neck 3, although this latter feature is not essential, an ordinary glass bottle constituting the best form of receptacle, inasmuch as its transparency permits the ball or pellet to be kept in view except when it is trapped and hidden by the element provided for that purpose.

The neck of the receptacle is provided with a stopper 4, having a depending spindle 5, preferably of less diameter than the stopper, so as to form a shoulder 6 at the junction of the two, and mounted upon said depending spindle 5, so as to be free to move longitudinally thereon, is atube 7 of metal, wood, paper, or other available material, wood being preferred both for said tube and for the stopper, with its projecting spindle, both because of the cheapness of this material and of the facility with which it can be wrought into proper form.

The pellet 9 is preferably of metal and is of such size that when the tube 7 is raised upon the spindle 5, so that its its upper end the hand while in the slightly-inclined position shown in Fig. 2, the frictional hold of the tube 7 upon the spindle 5 in this case being such as to prevent it from sliding down ward on said spindle. The pellet 9 then lies at the junction at the bottom of the receptacle, at the lower side wall of the same, and by a downward swinging movement of the receptacle in the direction of the arrow 00, Fig. 2, the pellet is caused to travel over the bottom of the receptacle in the direction of the arrow y, and if this movement is skilfully timed the pellet will reach a position beneath the inner end of the spindle 5 before the tube drops sufficiently to prevent it from reaching this position; but unless the movement is very accurately timed the tube 7 will have descended to such an extent before the front of the pellet reaches the dotted line 10 as to strike said pellet and prevent it from approaching farther toward the central position, thereby necessitating the tipping of the bottle until the tube 7 again slides backwardly to the full extent on the spindle 5, so as to permit another attempt to be made.

The difficulty of properly centering the pollet 9 is increased if the bottom of the receptacle is convex or beveled on the inner face. Hence this form is preferred.

It will be evident that by the use of the secondary movable element 7, which obstructs the proper placing of the pellet 9, the difficulty of operating the toy is very much increased as compared with toys of this class in which the manipulation of the-receptacle is simply for the purpose of placing the ball in a pocket or other resting-place. Hence the improved toy requires a correspondingly greater amount of skill in its handling.

While I prefer in all cases to use a spher ical pellet, a flat pellet may be used, if desired-as shown, for instance, at 9 in Fig. 3' and instead of making the secondary movable element 7 of the toy in the form of a tube for inclosing the pellet a reverse construction may be adopted-that is to say, the

, said secondary movable element may be in the form of a rod or pin 7, guided in a tubular or other suitable portion 5 of the stopper 4 and adapted to engage with an opening formed in the pellet when the latter is properly adjusted to its central position on the bottom of the receptacle before the descent of said pin, as also shown in Fig. 3.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A toy comprising a receptacle to be held in and moved by the hand, a movable pellet therein, a tube adapted to engage said pellet when the latter is in its proper position but serving by its own movement to obstruct the movement of the pellet to said position, and a stopper having a projecting spindle serving as a rigid guide for the tube and restricting the movement of the latter to a plane transverse to that of the movable pellet, substantially as specified.

2. A toy comprising a receptacle to be held in and moved by the hand, a movable pellet contained within said receptacle, and a secondary movable element guided in the receptacle and adapted to engage said pellet when the latter occupies its proper position in the receptacle, butserving by its own movement to obstruct such movement of the pellet, the portion of the receptacle over which the pellet moves being convex or beveled, substantially as specified.

3. A toy comprising a receptacle to be held in and moved by the hand, a movable pellet contained in said receptacle, a secondary movable element contained in the receptacle and adapted to engage the pellet When the latter is in proper position but serving normally to obstruct the proper movement of the pellet, and a rigid guide on the receptacle whereby the said secondary element can move only in a plane transverse to that of the movable pellet, substantially as specified.

4. A toy comprising a receptacle to be held in and moved by the hand, a pellet movable therein, a secondary movable element adapted to engage said pellet when the latter is in its proper position, but serving by its own movement to obstruct the movement of the pellet to said position, and a stopper having a projecting spindle serving as a guide for said secondary movable element, substantially as specified.

5. A toy comprising a receptacle to be held in and moved by the hand, a pellet movable therein, a secondary movable element adapted to engage said pellet when the latter is in its proper position, but serving by its own movement to obstruct the movement of the pellet to said position, and a stopper having a projecting spindle serving as a, guide for said secondary movable element, and also having a shoulder for restricting the movement of said element in one direction, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM P. LYLE.

Witnesses:

F. E. BEOHTOLD, J os. H. KLEIN. 

